A colleague of mine had a very unusual bfing problem, and we are both curious to know if anyone on Lactnet has heard of this. After a normal pregnancy and labour, her newborn lost 27oz. by 6 days postpartum, although mom was nursing often. She had been drinking large amounts of water since 6th month of pregnancy, approx. 20 cups/day, and this increased due to intense thirst to 30-40 cups/day postpartum. The babies blood had excessive salt levels and breastmilk had 55mmol sodium per litre (normal is 7 to 9mmol). Baby was carefully rehydrated and mom pumped breastmilk until the salt levels became normal. She continued to breastfeed, although she experienced a repeating 9 day "boom or bust" cycle from excessive production to barely enough. This cycle lengthened to 11, 14, 20 etc. days until around 4 mos where milk production seemed to stabilize. Her thirst declined slowly, but not completely until weaning at 2 years. A local endocrinologist suggested that her pituitary gland, enlarged with oxytocin and prolactin activity, "squished" the posterior pituitary, preventing the anti-diuretic(vasopressin) from working adequately. This caused a salt build-up which resulted in the excessive thirst. An article in the May/June 1991 Contemporary Pediatrics entitled Pediatric Puzzler - The Salt of Life, discusses similar cases but offers no explanations. Has anyone heard of this condition? Thanks Aida Puim